1. Technical Field
The present invention relates, generally, to displays and, more particularly, to displaying and adjusting information on a display.
2. Background Information
Aircraft flight displays continue to advance in sophistication, achieving increasingly higher levels of information density and, consequently, presenting a greater amount of visual information to be perceived and understood by the operator. In many applications, it is important that visual displays provide a proper cognitive mapping between what the operator is trying to achieve and the information available to accomplish the task. As a result, such systems increasingly utilize human-factor design principles to build instrumentation and controls that work cooperatively with human operators. Accordingly, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has promulgated a number of standards and advisory circulars relating to flight instrumentation. More particularly, Title 14 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 25, Sec. 25.1321 et seq. provides guidelines for arrangement and visibility of instruments, warning lights, indicators, and the like. Similarly, detailed guidelines related to electronic displays can be found in FAA Advisory Circular 20-88A, Guidelines on the Marking of Aircraft Powerplant Instruments (September 1985).
One area in particular that has not significantly profited from advances in graphical user interfaces is the field of aircraft display systems. Specifically, in current generation aircraft, information display and editing continues to be performed using conventional analog instruments and/or cumbersome, text-based techniques which have not changed significantly in the preceding several years. For example, flight crews frequently indicate that current flight management systems (FMS) are non-intuitive, difficult to interpret, and require too much heads-down time. Indeed, due to the high cockpit workload involved, many flight crews abandon the FMS altogether, choosing instead to fly the aircraft using the autopilot.
One concept in aircraft cockpits is to consolidate information on electronic displays. Addition of input devices creates interactive systems which may be used to control and monitor various aspects of the aircraft, such as flight management, navigation, cabin conditions, and sensors. The potential for display failure, however, requires system redundancy. For example, if a display fails, another source of the relevant information should be available to the crew. Further, the information should be available without significant obstacles or difficulty. Consequently, the requirement for redundancy tends to limit the application of electronic displays in many aircraft.